"The Civil Rights Act of 1964"

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was landmark legislation in the United States that outlawed segregation in the U.S. schools and public places, served to protect women in courts and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Once implemented, the effects of the Act were far reaching, and had tremendous long-term impacts on the whole country. It prohibited discrimination in public facilities, in government, and in employment, invalidating the Jim Crow laws in the southern U.S. It became illegal to compel segregation of the races in schools, housing, or hiring. Powers given to enforce the bill were initially weak, but were supplemented during later years.

President John F. Kennedy introduced this legislation in his civil rights speech of June 11, 1963. The bill passed through the House by a vote of 290 to 130 and later through the Senate by a vote of 73 to 27. President Johnson signed it into law on July 2, 1964.

On Thursday, February 14, 2008 members of the bargaining unit voted not to ratify the proposed tentative agreement for the second time. The first proposal provided a lump sum increase in the first year and percentage wage increases in each of the following years. The second proposal provided a percentage increase in the first year retroactive to June 1, 2007 and a percentage increase in each of the following years. A comparison of the first and second proposal is as follows:

The rejection of the tentative agreement authorizes CWA to take strike action, and the Union is proceeding with the required preparation.

CWA will continue to communicate with PIW in an effort to obtain a successful contract. However, these discussions will only be successful if we have a strong and unified bargaining unit.

If negotiations with PIW are not successful in the next few weeks, it is the Union’s plan to move this process forward by setting up informational picket lines. We will need every member to join us on the picket line before work, after work and during his or her lunch breaks.

We urge all members (if you have not done so already) to provide us with their personal email addresses so that we can provide you with information and communicate with you in a timely manner.

Terry Skiest, an employee of Verizon Business, and a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, recently returned from his third tour of duty in the Middle East to find that the American flag he left hanging outside his cubicle had been removed.

According to Verizon Management, the American flag "could be considered propaganda" and "might be offensive to some workers."

It is sad that Verizon Business is so caught up in its anti-worker campaign of preventing employees from posting pro-union flyers, that it can’t respect Terry’s symbol of pride from his service to our country.

Verizon Business employees are outraged by Terry Skiest’s story. Technicians are standing in solidarity with Terry, and all of our troops serving in the armed forces by displaying hundreds of flags in cubicles all along the East Coast.

If in the course of performing your job functions, you become aware of child pornography, you must report the incident to the Corporate Security group at 800 997-3287. If you become aware that another Verizon employee possesses child pornography on a computer or elsewhere, you must also report that incident to Corporate Security.

Child pornography includes any picture, video or other visual image, in any format, display or media, showing a minor or minors (i.e., persons under age 18) who are, or who appear to be, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

• Confront the customer or employee;
• Confiscate the device or equipment;
• Move, print out or make a copy of the content;
• Send, forward or otherwise transmit the content to anyone else.

Effective February 18, 2008, a Voluntary Termination Pay (VTP) offer is being made to employees in the titles of Senior Technician, Field Operations Material Handler, Staging Technician and Technical Systems Assembler in specific GCA locations in accordance with Article 25 of the CWA Operations collective bargaining agreement.

The election period for this offer will be February 18, 2008 through February 29, 2008. Employees must submit their request by end of day (11:59 pm in respective time zones) by February 29, 2008, to be considered for this offer. Employees will be notified by March 4, 2008, of the Company’s acceptance or declination of their VTP election. Eligible employees accepting this offer must be off payroll by March 15, 2008.

Any questions that you may have regarding this VTP offer should be directed to your supervisor or the Employee Resource Center—Theresa Inman 800 930-6627.

On Friday, June 13, 2008, the AFL-CIO will celebrate Labor Night 2008 at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD. Game time will be 7:05 p.m. and tickets will be only $5.00 per person. There will be fireworks after the game.

On Friday, July 11, 2008 the AFL-CIO will celebrate the 2^nd Annual Labor Night at the new union-built Nationals Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Anyone interested in purchasing tickets, should contact the Local office on 202 291-1500.